Sorry for the delay in cybercasts. We were
having too much fun playing and traveling throughout the Alps. Here is a recap
from the last couple days.
July 25th: We woke up from our lovely hut and rode up the very famous Aig du
Midi tramway to 3808m. After taking several pictures and enjoying the sights
we walked out of the Aig du Midi and down the Arete de Poulet Merde. Then
traversed the Valle Blanche (largest glacier in the Alps) over to Italy. It
took us just over 4hrs to reach the Italian boarder, where we spent the night
at the Torino Hut (3410m).
Yesterday, July 26th, we attempted to climb Aig du Toule (3800m) on the
Italian/French boarder. However we turned around near the summit due to loose
rock. When we descend down from Aig du Toule, where we found the Helbronner
Cable Car (which connects Italy to Chamonix) was closed for Alpinists. We
opted for “Plan B”, and descended into the amazing mountain town of Courmayeur,
Italy (1008m). We had a traditional Italian lunch with some red wine.
The Alps are amazingly connected by trains, trams, and roadways. To get back
to Chamonix we hired a taxi to take us through the Mont Blanc Tunnel, a 16km
tunnel that is underneath the Mont Blanc Massif. And 30 minutes later we
arrived in Chamonix!
Today we are getting ready to start to make our ascent on Mont Blanc. The
forecast is calling for sunny skies for the next couple days.
Thanks for following and I’ll give you another update soon!

Jonathon

July 26:

Hello, this is Jonathon Spitzer with the Mont
Blanc trip. This is our second trip for the season so far. Today John, Victor,
and myself rode up the Montenvers train and then descended down to the Mer de
Glace, which is the Sea of Ice. We practiced some cramponing, and some steep
ice climbing skills on the Mer de Glace, for a couple hours, then we traversed
on over (about at the 8,000 foot level) to the Midi-Plan Refuge, where we’re
going to sit down for dinner here in a little bit. This hut overlooks Chamonix
directly down, with a beautiful sunset here and what not. Tomorrow our plan is
to ride up the Aiguille du Midi, to about 12,000 feet, and then traverse the
Vallee Blanche, to the Torino Hut which is in Italy. Then we’ll be over there
enjoying the coffee of Italy for the next day. We’ll be in touch tomorrow and
thanks for following our cybercasts. Hope everybody is doing well back in the
United States. Thanks!

July 22:

Today we descended down from the Gouter Hut (3800m) back to Chamonix. Our
summit climb yesterday (July 21st) was very amazing. We found ourselves to be
very fortunate the weather opened up allowing us to summit Mont Blanc (4808m).
Only a few other teams were on the upper mountain yesterday creating a unique
experience in the French Alps.

Thanks for following the Cybercasts!

Au Revoir

Jonathon

Earlier:

Hello this is Jonathon Spitzer with the Mont Blanc trip. Today Kay and I woke
up at the Tete Rousse Hut to kind of some cloudy weather and misty and snowy
conditions, but we decided we wanted to give it a shot, and climbed up the
Grand Couloir in pretty adverse conditions, but ended up climbing up and above
the clouds today, and we were able to get to the summit of Mont Blanc. We hit
the summit at around 1:30 this afternoon and then descended back down to the
Gouter Hut where we are spending the night. Tonight we are up here, most of
the clouds have now dropped below us and should have an amazing sunset. We
will be descending down to Chamonix tomorrow and I’ll try and post some
pictures in the next day or two. You know Kay did a fabulous job with the
conditions that we had, were pretty difficult climbing and definitely applaud
here for keeping going with the conditions that we had. Thanks for following
bye.